Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 4-D film attraction located at the Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Disney California Adventure. The film was directed by George Scribner, who is best known for directing Disney's 1988 animated film, Oliver and Company. Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 12-minute long show featuring 3D effects, scents, and water as well as a number of characters from Disney movies. It is shown on the largest purpose-built 3D screen ever made, at 150 feet wide. Locations Magic Kingdom It is located adjacent to Peter Pan's Flight and the Fantasy Faire shop in Fantasyland. This is the fourth attraction to utilize this show building. The theater originally housed the Mickey Mouse Revue. Later, it was home to the 3-D film Magic Journeys after it left Epcot's Journey into Imagination pavilion to make way for Captain EO. It then housed the live stage production The Legend of the Lion King. Hong Kong Disneyland It is located adjacent to Royal Banquet Hall in Fantasyland. This is the only incarnation of PhilharMagic to open with a park. Tokyo Disneyland It is located adjacent to Pinocchio's Daring Journey in the space that was previously occupied by the Mickey Mouse Revue, which was originally located at Walt Disney World before moving to Tokyo Disneyland as one of its original attractions. Disneyland Paris It is located adjacent to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue in Discoveryland Theater, the first version that was not placed at the park's Fantasyland. Disney California Adventure It debuted in the Sunset Showcase Theater that formerly housed Muppet*Vision 3D and For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration on April 26, 2019. Plans had existed for the attraction to come to the park during the 2007-2012 overhaul as a Muppet Vision replacement, but it was shelved because of the limited size of the theater's screen. When it was finally installed in 2019, the issue was resolved through projecting some of the extended screen elements onto the walls of the theater. Attraction development The attraction is unique in being one of a very select amount of attractions in the Disney theme parks in which Walt Disney Imagineering has collaborated with another division of The Walt Disney Company - in this instance, it was Walt Disney Feature Animation. This same partnership developed the Fantasmic! shows at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Legendary Disney animator Glen Keane re-rendered Ariel from The Little Mermaid in 3D, returning after rendering her in 2D in the original film. Nik Ranieri, supervising animator of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, also returned to animate that character in 3D. Most of Donald Duck's dialogue is actually archival recordings by his original voice actor, Clarence Nash. Tony Anselmo (Donald's current voice actor) recorded only five new lines for the character in this attraction (such as the scene where Donald Duck hums to the tune of the song "Be Our Guest".) Plot synopsis Outside the Queue Area Mickey Mouse is performing with his PhilharMagic Orchestra at the Fantasyland Concert Hall (Orlando, Hong Kong and Tokyo), Discoveryland Theater (Paris) and Sunset Showcase Theater (Anaheim). Inside the Queue Area Inside the queue area, there are posters advertising the Concert Hall's past productions and performers, such as Hades from Hercules; Ariel and her sisters from The Little Mermaid; José Carioca, Panchito Pistoles, and Donald Duck himself from The Three Caballeros; Wheezy from Toy Story 2; The Genie from Aladdin; Willie the Whale, and The Three Little Pigs. The Theater's Lobby Upon entering the theater's lobby, guests pick up their "opera glasses" (3-D glasses). During their wait, guests hear orchestral music from Fantasia, Fantasia 2000, and other Disney animated films. Fantasyland Concert Hall (Orlando, Hong Kong and Tokyo)/Discoveryland Theater (Paris)/Sunset Showcase Theater (Anaheim) Goofy, the Concert Hall's stage manager, admits the guests into the main theater, where final preparations for the performance are underway. After accidentally disturbing a cat, Goofy lugs in an electrical cord and gets electrocuted. Minnie Mouse then tells the guests to put on their "opera glasses" after reminding them that, as a courtesy to the attraction, there should not be eating, drinking, smoking or flash photography during the show. After this instruction, Minnie then realizes that Donald Duck has gone missing and goes to tell Mickey. Goofy, through a misunderstanding, then raises the curtain to reveal that the stage is empty, except for a conductor's podium and Donald, who is sleeping in a box. Mickey races onto the stage in a hurry, quickly telling Donald to unpack the instruments. Mickey places his famous Sorcerer's hat on the podium, then dashes off the stage, ordering Donald "And don't touch my hat!" After Donald unpacks all the instruments, including a grand piano, from the small box, he is tempted to try on the Sorcerer's hat himself. He does so, disobeying Mickey's order, which causes the magical instruments to come to life and play an extremely unpleasant melody. Donald tells the instruments to "stop it" and the instruments stop, except for a small flute. However, when Donald bullies the flute, the other instruments rise up, creating a whirlwind of magic and music as the "Mickey Mouse March" plays. Donald loses the hat in the storm and passes through scenes from different Disney animated features while trying to retrieve the hat. After the whirlwind passes, Donald finds himself in a dark place, which takes us to Beauty and the Beast with Lumière, who begins to sing "Be Our Guest". The audience can smell the food (including an apple pie) and when a bunch of champagne bottles pop off their corks, they feel quick blasts of wind in their faces while Lumière teeters on a tomato rolling towards the audience at the end of the song. The darkness comes back for a second. When the light returns, we find ourselves in Fantasia. The music from The Sorcerer's Apprentice plays as the Magic Brooms enter the room, splashing water on Donald and washing away the dirty dishes left behind from the previous scene. The audience also gets blasted with water. A broom smaller than Donald comes in, carrying a big bucket. Donald snatches the bucket away and laughs, but only gives it back when a gigantic broom comes in. The giant broom spills water on Donald, taking us into The Little Mermaid, where Ariel is singing "Part of Your World". At the end of the song, an electric eel shocks Donald when he tries to kiss Ariel. Next, we fade to The Lion King, where Simba sings "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" amidst a menagerie of jungle animals rendered in the 3D paper cut-out style. After that, we go into Peter Pan, where the chorus sings "You Can Fly". Peter Pan and Tinker Bell sprinkle pixie dust on Donald, giving him the ability to fly. Finally, we go into Aladdin, where Aladdin and Jasmine are singing "A Whole New World" while flying through the night sky on Carpet. This time, Donald retrieves the hat by Jasmine placing it on his head. Unfortunately, the hat gets knocked off of Donald's head by Iago and Donald jumps after it. Donald falls back into the magical whirlwind from earlier. Donald gets sucked inside, finding himself back onstage, still in the whirlwind. Mickey returns, puts on the hat and uses its powers to restore order. As Mickey finally conducts the orchestra, playing a reprise of the "Mickey Mouse March", the flute that Donald bullied earlier knocks the duck into a tuba. As a fitting end, Donald gets shot from the tuba and into the theater's back wall. The animatronic of Donald's rear is not shown in the Paris version. Instead an extended applause is heard and Minnie thanks the guests for coming to the show. Talent English version * Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse * Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck ** Clarence Nash (Donald's original voice; Archival recordings) * Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse * Bill Farmer as Goofy * Jerry Orbach as Lumière * Jodi Benson as Ariel * Jason Weaver as Simba * Rowan Atkinson as Zazu * Blayne Weaver as Peter Pan * Brad Kane as Aladdin * Lea Salonga as Jasmine * Gilbert Gottfried as Iago Japanese version *Takashi Aoyagi as Mickey Mouse *Kōichi Yamadera as Donald Duck *Yū Shimaka as Goofy Most of the original voice cast reprised their original character roles in each of their own respective Disney films, excluding Peter Pan (who had a different voice), Donald Duck, and Simba (with archival recordings). According to Disney staff members at Walt Disney World, an estimate of about 80 talented musicians and/or background singers performed the music for the film as well as the return of famed composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and lyricist Tim Rice (Aladdin, The Lion King), who arranged the music for each song they had worked on since some verses or lines of these songs were omitted for this attraction. External links * Walt Disney World Resort - Mickey's PhilharMagic * Hong Kong Disneyland - Fantasyland * Tokyo Disneyland - Fantasyland * Disneyland Paris - Discoveryland * Disney California Adventure - Hollywood Land Songs *''Mickey Mouse March'' *''Be Our Guest'' *''The Sorcerer's Apprentice '' *''Part of Your World'' *''I Just Can't Wait to Be King'' *''You Can Fly'' *''A Whole New World'' *''Mickey Mouse March'' (Reprise) Trivia *At the time it was made, the land of Agrabah was the largest 3-D environment ever created. *In the Paris version, Minnie, Lumiere, Ariel, Aladdin and Jasmine are the only characters to have French actors. **Ariel is the only character to sing both English and French. See also *Animagique *Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic Gallery 3000739005_3720015575.jpg|Postcard phil-02s.jpg|Donald Duck flying Philharmagic.jpg|Donald with Aladdin and Jasmine mickeys-philharmagic-8630.jpg 01-Mickeys-Philharmagic-Magic-Kingdom1_700.jpg DCA-Philharmagic-25-990x556.jpg|In DCA Category:Fantasyland Category:Magic Kingdom Category:Tokyo Disney Resort Category:Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Category:Family Rides Category:Tokyo Disneyland Category:3D Movies Category:Attractions in Magic Kingdom Category:Disneyland Park (Paris) Category:Disney California Adventure Category:Attractions in Fantasyland (Magic Kingdom)